On the right: Norm Ornstein: repub party has moved so far to the right a candidate with Reagan's [View all]

[pampango]

record could not get nominated.

The Republican Party over the past decade especially has moved sharply to the right, and the divisions are old battles of the right, not the earlier ones that pitted major figures like Nelson Rockefeller or William Scranton against Barry Goldwater or Ronald Reagan, or even involved pragmatic centrists like Richard Nixon (whose domestic program included a guaranteed annual income as welfare reform and a health care plan more liberal than the Obama one). If a candidate ran today on Ronald Reagan's record -- which included tax increases every year of his presidency after the first one, an expansion of Medicare and Medicaid, and other serious compromises on spending -- it is doubtful he could prevail in the new G.O.P.

...there are at least three G.O.P. and G.O.P.-leaning factions in the electorate, roughly equal in size: Staunch Conservatives, including many Tea Party types but also supporters of the core G.O.P. Wall Street establishment; Main Street Republicans, focused on a more populist and social conservatism; and Libertarians (many of who are Republican leaners).

If Ron Paul, representing nearly a third of the G.O.P. but rejected by the rest, feels disrespected, he could ultimately bolt and run as an independent (which is why Romney will probably treat him with kid gloves in coming weeks, even as Santorum and Gingrich treat him like a piñata). And if Romney prevails by going nuclear on Santorum as he did on Gingrich in Iowa, the nominee will have to allay movement conservatives' deep and intense distrust and resentment toward him. He would do this via the only route he has, by waging an even more intense negative campaign against Obama to kindle their enthusiasm.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/01/04/for-gop-one-party-but-three-platforms/not-your-fathers-republican-party

This division of the repub party into 3 factions is similar to that of Juan Cole:

"Romney is the darling of Wall Street among the colorful Republican field. Rick Santorum has emerged as the voice of religious absolutists, mostly evangelical Protestants but including Ultramontane Catholics like himself. (He beat out Michelle Bachmann for this honor in part because religious absolutists are patriarchal and wouldn’t want to be led by a woman.) And Ron Paul is the standard bearer of the libertarians."

http://www.juancole.com/2012/01/three-republican-bears-and-none-just-right.html

I think Cole is closer to the truth. While teabaggers tend to support Wall Street - which would tend to put them in the Romney camp - they also can be found in the religious absolutist libertarian camps as well. Or maybe teabaggers don't like Romney, but haven't figured out that by supporting Wall Street they are joining his faction, whether they say (or realize) they are or not.